Green beats Santiago but tight-lipped on future

By Simon White

Danny Green remains tight-lipped on his boxing future - but his win tonight over Danny Santiago certainly seemed to have an element of "final farewell" to it.

Green had already said the Santiago bout, a fifth round TKO win, would be his final outing in Perth. But speculation remains that Green will hang up the gloves for good.

A jubilant Danny Green thanks his fans.

"I'm just going to relax and enjoy it," Green said when asked ringside where he would head after tonight.

However, Green's keenness to thank his loyal fan base after the fight will do nothing to quell the talk that a permanent retirement - he previously had a hiatus in 2008 - would be on the cards.

"This was for you," Green told the crowd.

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"I fought for you guys. I think I can say I proudly represented my state and country. I nearly died in here [the ring] a couple of times."

Green paid tribute to his trainer Angelo Hyder, who he labelled the "best in the world".

The 39-year-old clearly outpointed Santiago, who was dogged but rarely troubled Green apart from a brief burst in the second round.

Santiago was sent to the canvas three times before the eventual TKO, at one stage dramatically almost rolling out of the ring.

It was a final flurry of left hooks which finished the Florida resident's evening.

9.00pm: Green thanks Santiago, saying he's a "classy customer" who should have been "asleep" but is "one tough hombre" to have stayed on his feet for so long. Santiago responds by saying Green has treated him with respect and says he hopes this isn't the Aussie's final fight.

8.56pm: Danny Green lifted up in triumph in the centre of the ring - by his opponent! Very magnanimous Santiago, as well as an dogged fighter. It's a TKO win to the "Green Machine".

8.53pm: And that's it. Green wobbles Santiago in the fifth round, then finishes him off. Santiago tries to get up again but the ref was having none of it. A flurry of left hooks did the job.

8.49pm: Fair dinkum amazing. Santiago floored two more times in round four and basically rolled out of the ring. Ref put the count on him both times but Santiago got up in time and was rescued by the bell. Surely he can't take too many more left hooks like that!

8.45pm: Santiago downed in round three. Green got him with a ripping body shot, then followed with a right uppercut to the chin. Santiago down on one hand but back up to hit Green with a decent right to the head of his own. Things are heating up!

8.41pm: Green a bit more agressive in the second round, got his jab - especially the left - going. Santiago tagged Green with a nice body shot in the final minute. Still very much a "getting to know you phase".

8.36pm: Reports of chants of "Aussie, Aussie" during the US anthem and a bit of fisticuffs in the stands before the main event had even started. Green just feeling out Santiago in the first round. The American showed a nice bit of speed. Fireworks haven't really begun yet.

8.33pm: The national anthems are out of the way and that was officially nerve-tingling. Almost the whole crowd sung the Australian one with Danny. Ding ding ding and here we go!

8.27pm: Green enters the ring to the familiar strains of Down Under. Crowd is going absolutely nuts. Only person sitting is me, because I have to type this!

8.23pm: Santiago enters the ring to the sounds of some nice hip-hop. Green delivers a televised message to the crowd, talking about his last-fight loss to Krzysztof Wlodarczyk. Says it was only the support of his fans that enabled him to get back up again.

8.21pm: Only minutes away punters from Danny Green entering the ring for his final Perth appearance. But the bigger question is whether this will be his last ever fight. If he loses you'd certainly have to think so.

8.10pm: And that's it - maybe a minute left to go in the final round and Siale's worn one too many - ref calls it off. Brave effort from both fighters, Siale for keeping on standing and Cronje for grinding it out against an opponent he was expected to beat more easily than that.

8.08pm: And we're headed for a 10th and final round here in the last undercard fight. One tough hombre is Oscar Siale. Cronje pummelled him in that last round but the 41-year-old frm Kalgoorlie just keeps on standing. No wonder they call him "The Rock".

8.05pm: This is a truly epic contest - hope the main event is this good. End of the eighth and Siale has taken some punishment but he's given pretty much as good as he's got from Cronje and looks to have a jaw made of concrete. Fantastic stuff.

7.59pm: Actually, I've decided Cronje's flat-top isn't only Drago-esque, it's the best seen since Vanilla Ice:

7.50pm: For those playing at home, Cronje bears an uncanny resemblance to Rocky's old foe Ivan Drago.

7.43pm: Cronje wore a couple of solid shots from Siale in the second round but bounced back in the third with some good punches of his own, including a flurry leading up to the bell. Really solid contest here.

7.38pm: For those fancying a bet with the WA TAB on tonight's main event, Green's out to $1.16, with Santiago in to $4.50. Green now $1.44 to win by stoppage or disqualification.

7.35pm: Good lead-up fight this one to get us prepared for the main event. Siale (14 wins, 11 losses) is giving away nine centimetres to Cronje but both fighters landed some good shots in the first round.

7.29pm: Just one more fight before Danny Green takes to the ring for the final time in Perth - and perhaps his career. In the meantime, it's a fight for the vacant IBO international cruiserweight title. Pieter Cronje takes on Oscar Siale in a 10-round contest.

7.26pm: The downed fighter didn't look so good there for a couple of moments - as the photo below attests. Fortunately he's OK.

7.20pm: Most spectacular knockout of the night so far as WA's Matt Garlett absolutely floors Qui Xiao Jun in a featherweight contest during the second round. The punch that put him down wasn't that big but Garlett landed a big right moments earlier that did most of the damage.

7.07pm: As it turns out, Wes had good reason to be confident. The ref stops it half-way through round two, after a couple of rights that rocked Galvin. The rot had started only 20 seconds into that round when Capper snapped Galvin's headback with a truly brutal right.

7pm: Strange round of boxing that as Warwick, I mean Wes, started it showboating and copped a couple for his troubles. But by the end of it it was Galvin who was on the canvas and, perhaps, saved by the bell. And here's some more of tonight's colour:

6.55pm: I wish I could accurately describe to you the moves of Wes Capper as he entered the ring just then for his fight. But I couldn't possibly do it justice. He was dancing to Stevie Wonder's Superstition and was doing some truly funky stuff. I'd nickname him Warwick but I have a personal rule against making fun of boxers. The boy from Scarborough is up against David Galvin from the NT.

6.45pm: Round three and Chapman, who was a late call-up for this fight, is doing well to still be standing. Ogilvie has really given him some punishment. Actually I've typed too soon again! Ref calls this one off after Ogilvie landed a roundhouse right to the side of Chapman's head, as he was beating a retreat with his hands down.

6.30pm: And we're back with the fight we were meant to start with. Perth's Brandon Ogilvie against Kayne Chapman. Really exciting first round, Ogilvie showing some outstanding speed. Crowd, starting to get into this; stadium edging towards three-quarters full.

6.20pm: Wow, that was bizarre. Alex James makes a succesful pro debut but only after the announcer first tells the crowd Shane Quin has won. He realises his mistake after the booing starts. Let's hope we don't see anything like this later on!

6.13pm: That's a bit more like it. James, in his first pro fight, drops Quinn in the second round but "The Mighty" bounces back with some good punches of his own.

6.05pm: Scrappy start to this fight - round one resembled a wrestling match at times. Stadium's probably half-full at the moment, likely to be at least a couple of hours before Danny Green enters the ring.

6.00pm: Fighters have entered the ring for the second fight. It's a cruiserweight belt between Shane "The Mighty" Quinn and Alex James, a Perth kickboxer who is making his professional boxing debut.

5.46pm: Ah, should have held off typing that last update. It's all over 51 seconds into round two, with Van Diemen winning by TKO. The referee stepped in to stop Lord copping more punishment.

5.44pm: Well that was almost short and sweet. Van Diemen all over Lord , at one stage dropping him with a flurry of punches. It looked all over at that point but Lord got back up and carried on until the bell to end the first round.

5.40pm: Check that folks, last time I believe a program! We're actually starting with a light heavyweight fight between Jason Lord and Jeremy Van Diemen.

5.30pm: Counting down to the first of the undercard fights, which will pit Matt King againt Brandon Ogilvie in a four-round junior welterweight contest. Six fights in all before the big one - including an IBO international cruiserweight title fight between Oscar Siale and Pieter Cronje.

5.15pm: For those who aren't aware, Green and Santiago head into tonight's fight at the same age (39) with the same record (31 wins from 36 fights). Yesterday Santiago weighed in at 84.5 kilograms, while Green weighed in at 84.4 kilograms.

5.05pm: Welcome to Challenge Stadium folks. We're still half an hour off the first of the undercard fights but the place is already starting to fill. Likely to be a full house later on. Walked past what looked to be the police making an arrest outside so the action has aleady started!

3pm: Now less than two-and-a-half hours until we're underway. No changes at all in the betting so far, with Danny Green still showing $1.10 for the win with the WA TAB - and $1.30 to win by KO, TKO or disqualification.

11am: Still more than six hours until tonight's undercard starts but an early question. Do you think Danny Santiago wishes he wore a different pair of underdacks to yesterday's weigh-in?